Scottish Executive

Air Services

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to deliver new routes from Glasgow Airport.

Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive is actively promoting Glasgow Airport through engagement with airlines on potential new routes from Scotland which could enhance business links and encourage in-bound tourism.

Air Services

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive which new air routes, and how many, have been supported by the Route Development Fund and why Glasgow Airport has not yet benefited from any new routes.

Nicol Stephen: Thirteen new direct routes from airports in Scotland have been subject to investment from the Route Development Fund. These are:

  Edinburgh to Cologne

  Edinburgh to Jersey

  Glasgow Prestwick to Skavsta (Stockholm)

  Glasgow Prestwick to Girona (Barcelona)

  Edinburgh to Oslo

  Edinburgh to Milan

  Edinburgh to Geneva

  Edinburgh to Zurich

  Glasgow Prestwick to Berlin

  Glasgow Prestwick to Gothenburg

  Kirkwall to Bergen

  Edinburgh to New York (Newark)

  Inverness to Birmingham.

  The fund can only be used to support, and not distort, the market.

  The Scottish Executive will continue to actively promote Glasgow Airport through engagement with airlines on potential new routes from Scotland which would enhance business links and encourage in-bound tourism.

Canals

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive why expenditure on restoration work in Scotland’s canals has fallen from £44.8 million in 2000-01 to £20.1 million in 2002-03.

Nicol Stephen: The £44.8 million spent on restoration work in Scotland’s canals in 2000-01 included funding for the restoration of the Millennium Link. The Millennium Link was a major project which involved the building of bridges, tunnels, new sections of canals, and the Falkirk Wheel.

  Details of the funding allocated by the Scottish Executive to British Waterways this year can be found in the answer given to question S2W-2803 on 30 September 2003. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Education

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-1724 by Peter Peacock on 19 August 2003, whether it will provide a substantive example of its commitment to the provision of special needs education, as referred to in A Partnership for a Better Scotland .

Peter Peacock: Our commitment to the provision of special needs education is set out fully in our policy statement, Moving Forward! Additional Support for Learning , published in January 2003. This outlines our measures for promoting inclusion and equality within mainstream and special school provision. A copy of the document is available from the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 26026).

Enterprise

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements it has made for the organisation of an annual business forum, as referred to in A Partnership for a Better Scotland .

Mr Jim Wallace: The Scottish Executive is committed to working in partnership with the Scottish Parliament to ensure that the needs of Scottish businesses are fully understood and taken account of in policy making to maximise the drivers for growth.

  Discussions are on-going with the Scottish Parliament on the organisation of an annual business forum, and I hope to announce details in the next month.

Enterprise

Mr Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will report to the Parliament on the breakdown of the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks in Cancun, Mexico, as they affect Scottish trade and public services.

Mr Jim Wallace: The regulation of international trade is a reserved matter. However, Scottish Executive officials maintain regular contact with officials in the Department of Trade and Industry and other Government departments regarding trade issues, including those relating to the WTO, and how these may impact on the Executive’s responsibilities. The Cancun conference agreed a new deadline of 15 December 2003 to try and resolve the issues that could not be resolved at Cancun. Scottish Executive officials will continue to liase with UK Government departments on these and the other on-going negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda.

Environment

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to introduce an environmental court and, if so, when such plans will be implemented.

Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Executive has no plans at present to create an environmental court.

Homelessness

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many eviction actions have been raised in each court in each of the last three years and how many evictions subsequently took place.

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals were (a) affected by and (b) became homeless as a result of eviction actions raised, broken down by court, in each of the last three years.

Cathy Jamieson: The number of eviction actions raised in each court in each of the last three years is not available. Accordingly, nor is the number of individuals who were (a) affected by and (b) became homeless as a result of such actions.

Roads

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish all papers relating to environmental and other issues that contributed to the decision to favour the online route for the M80 extension at Cumbernauld.

Nicol Stephen: An appraisal summary table informing the minister’s decision on the choice of route for the M80 Stepps to Haggs was published in Travel Choices for Scotland: Strategic Roads Review in November 1999. Further information on the environmental impacts of the preferred line and alternatives will be published in an Environmental Statement, in the normal way, when proposals are brought forward for public comment through the publication of the draft scheme and orders.

Voluntary Sector

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will clarify the implications for voluntary organisations of the VAT tribunal decision in the Pre-School Learning Alliance case and ensure that its departments, local authorities awarding grants and groups receiving grants are aware of the implications of this case.

Mr Andy Kerr: VAT is a reserved matter. However, the Scottish ministers have been advised that the UK Government considers it unlikely that the decision of the tribunal in the case of the Pre-School Learning Alliance will have an effect on voluntary organisations.

  Normally, the public funding of community activities does not constitute payment for a service, and thus it is not subject to VAT. The tribunal considered that the circumstances were different in the case of the Pre-School Learning Alliance in that the arrangements had, unusually, led to an agreement to supply services.